It gives me great pleasure to advise the house of another excellent project in Western Victoria Region funded by the Brumby government’s Regional Infrastructure Development Fund to the tune of $758 000. The Lorne community will benefit from the $858 000 project, which involves geoexchange technology to heat the Lorne pool. The technology will allow for year-round use of the pool and its precinct by local communities and visitors to Lorne and the Great Ocean Road. This project will also demonstrate geoexchange technology as an economically viable method for heating the public swimming pool.
The Lorne community has been extremely proactive in getting this project off the ground, working with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, the Surf Coast Shire and of course Regional Development Victoria.
I congratulate the community on this hard work, but in particular I thank Mr Peter Spring for his tireless work and his constant phone calls to my electorate office. I acknowledge also the significant financial contribution that the local community has made to this project, along with the Surf Coast Shire and the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee. This is just another great example of the government’s commitment to supporting families and communities living and working in rural and regional Victoria. It is also a fantastic example of how alternative energies can be used in our public assets in regional Victoria.